What to know today
- The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to overturn U.S. District Judge James Boasberg's order in the Alien Enemies Act case, which paused deportation flights under the rarely used wartime law.
- Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance visited Greenland today as part of a U.S. delegation that included national security adviser Michael Waltz, Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah.
- In a change to their itinerary, the Vances visited Pituffik Space Base rather than the country's capital, Nuuk, after President Donald Trump's stated desire for the U.S. to take ownership of the Danish territory for U.S. national security purposes sparked controversy abroad.
- Trump participated in a swearing-in ceremony this afternoon for his White House counselor and former lawyer Alina Habba as the interim U.S. attorney for New Jersey.
Federal judge blocks firing of Voice of America staff
A federal judge today temporarily blocked the Trump administration from efforts to fire Voice of America staff.
U.S. District Judge James Paul Oetken granted a temporary restraining order after a group of journalists and labor groups asked the court to return the U.S. Global Media Agency, which oversees outlets including Voice of America and its employees, contractors and grantees, to its status before Trump signed an order this month to dismantle the federal agency.
The plaintiffs said in a court filing that roughly 1,300 VOA journalists and other employees "had to stop working immediately" because they were placed on administrative leave after Trump's order.
Ecuadorian president announces plans to meet with Trump this weekend
Daniel Noboa, the president of Ecuador, announced today that he will meet with Trump this weekend in Florida.
Noboa said in an interview with Ecuador’s Radio Centro said that he will head to the U.S. this evening to “personally speak” with Trump about “topics related to migration in benefit to [Ecuador’s] migrants” and a “fair trade deal on both sides.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Noboa’s announcement.
Noboa’s government yesterday announced a two-day trip to Miami and Fort Lauderdale for this weekend to “perform official activities.” Trump is scheduled to be at Mar-a-Lago this weekend.
Noboa, who is seeking re-election, recently hired the lobbying firm Mercury for $165,000, according to U.S. Justice Department records.
The contract is to “bolster the political-diplomatic strategies and initiatives pertaining to migration, trade, and security with the U.S. administration” and the specifics include arranging high-level meetings with the White House and other administration officials.
Tulsi Gabbard revokes access to classified info for Trump's political foes
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said on social media tonight that she had revoked security clearances from several of Trump's political foes.
"Per @POTUS directive, I have revoked former President Joe Biden’s security clearance, and revoked clearances and access to classified information for Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton, Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, Fiona Hill, and Alexander Vindman," Gabbard wrote on X.
Trump previously announced that he would “immediately” terminate Biden's access to intelligence information and had issued a memo last week that said it was “no longer in the national interest” for Harris, Clinton, Cheney and Kinzinger to have to access to classified information.
Cheney and Kinzinger were the two Republican members of the House Jan.6 Committee. Vindman and Hill gave testimony during Trump's first impeachment inquiry, with Vindman detailing Trump's 2019 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
During his first months in office, Trump has pulled numerous security clearances, including for dozens of former national security officials who signed a letter more than four years ago suggesting that Russia might have promoted allegations about Hunter Biden as part of a broader 2020 election interference effort.
Judge orders reinstatement of fired CFPB employees
A federal judge tonight issued a sweeping order affecting the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Judge Amy Berman Jackson ordered the reinstatement of all employees fired since Feb. 10 and the reinstatement of office space to ensure statutory functions can be completed.
The judge also ordered the rescinding of any contract cancellations with vendors.
Judge says he is 'inclined' to temporarily block Trump's order targeting WilmerHale law firm
A federal judge today said he was “inclined” to grant a temporary restraining order that would block Trump's executive order against the law firm WilmerHale.
Judge Richard Leon said the executive order, which suspends the security clearances of employees at the firm, was “avowedly based on retaliation for core protected activity.”
The firm previously employed Robert Mueller, a special counsel who led the Russia investigation after the 2016 presidential election.
“The president could have done this a different way, couldn’t he?” Leon asked Justice Department attorney Richard Lawson.
No ruling was issued by the judge.
WilmerHale chose influential conservative attorney Paul Clemente to represent the firm. Clemente detailed the immediate harm facing the firm, including two meetings with government agencies that were canceled today, and security clearances that are beginning to be revoked.
On that point, he brought up an issue related to two attorneys at WilmerHale who are also reservists in the military: they were told to report for duty next week but are unsure if they will now be able to due to potential clearance issues.
“This is designed to chill law firms,” Clemente said.
“Some of them are standing tall, and some are making deals,” he said of other firms facing similar executive orders.
The judge was incredulous when discussing a section of the executive order that bans WilmerHale employees from entering federal buildings.
“What possible threat do they pose from having access to government buildings?" he asked.
“This is a government building,” the judge noted, referring to the E. Barrett Prettyman federal courthouse in Washington, D.C.The courtroom gallery was at capacity, filled mostly with partners and associates of the law firm.
Judge blocks Trump order targeting law firm Jenner & Block, calls it unconstitutional
In a rare Friday night hearing, Judge John Bates blocked the Trump administration from enforcing the president's executive order targeting Jenner & Block, the former law firm of MSNBC legal analyst Andrew Weissmann who was once a prosecutor in Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.
In granting the temporary restraining order, the judge said the executive order violates the First, Fifth and Sixth amendments of the Constitution.
Trump has targeted other law firms with executive orders, with mixed results.
Trump commutes sentence of Ozy Media founder Carlos Watson
Trump commuted the criminal sentence of Ozy Media founder Carlos Watson today, just hours before Watson was due to begin serving a 116-month prison term for a multi-million-dollar scheme that included falsely claiming the start-up had deals with google and Oprah Winfrey, a senior White House official said.
Watson had expected to surrender this afternoon to the Federal Correctional Institution in Lompoc, California, before he received word of Trump granting him executive clemency, according to a source familiar with the situation.
Trump also commuted the sentence of one year of probation imposed on Ozy Media for the defunct news and entertainment company’s conviction in the same case.
Trump’s actions remove the criminal penalty imposed on Watson and Ozy.
Rep. Victoria Spartz concedes tariffs aren't 'sustainable' at raucous town hall
Rep. Victoria Spartz, R-Ind., conceded that tariffs are not "a sustainable solution" when asked about Trump's current policies regarding foreign imports.
While Spartz defended the tariffs Trump has placed on goods from China, Mexico, Canada and Europe, the congresswoman said that judging their effectiveness will depend on “the end result."
“He wants to make sure that we protect we bring American job back to us,” Spartz said before adding. “As a long-term solution it is not a sustainable solution.”
Spartz made the remark in response to a question about whether the tariffs could double as an "indirect tax on Americans," which she said depends on how they're implemented.
"As a CPA and economist, I will tell you it depends," she said. "Every policy, it depends on the end result you're trying to achieve."
While attendees in the first several rows of the town hall idly listened to Spartz as she defended Trump’s tariffs and his broader agenda, those in the back of the room could be heard jeering and booing the congresswoman as she spoke.
Musk says his companies are 'suffering' because of his work with the government
Billionaire Elon Musk said that his companies are suffering from his involvement in the Department of Government Efficiency.
“It’s actually disadvantageous for me to be in the government, not advantageous. If I wasn’t in the government, I could lobby and I could push for things that are advantageous to my companies, and probably get it, probably receive it," Musk said in a taped one-on-one interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier that aired tonight. "My companies are suffering because I’m in the government."
Musk’s Tesla has faced a wave of attacks and his net worth has taken a significant hit amid stock sell-off in shares of the automobile company. Still, he remains the richest person in the world by more than $100 billion, according to Forbes’ real time list of billionaires.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor defends ‘fearlessly independent’ judiciary amid Trump attacks
Reporting from Washington
Liberal Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor today stressed the importance of an independent judiciary and fealty to the rule of law amid harsh rhetoric from the Trump administration against judges who have impeded its policies.
Sotomayor, speaking to students at Georgetown Law Center in Washington, said it was vital that everyone “ensure that the courts are fearlessly independent, that we understand that our obligation is to protect the rights given to us under the Constitution.”
“More than ever, we have to get up and explain and repeat and explain again why judicial independence is critical to everyone’s freedom, because arbitrary power is just that, and it means that anyone is going to be subject to unfairness at someone else’s whim,” she added.
Sotomayor did not directly address the aggressive executive actions taken by the Trump administration and angry criticism of judges, including calls for impeachment.
Musk to meet CIA director to discuss 'government efficiency'
Elon Musk is due to meet CIA Director John Ratcliffe, an agency spokesperson said.
“Director Ratcliffe has invited Elon Musk to meet with him at the Agency to discuss government efficiency," the spokesperson said in an email.
The meeting is expected to take place Monday, a U.S. official said.
Republican congressman calls Signal chat leak 'more than a mistake'
Rep. Mike Flood, R-Neb., said this afternoon that the Trump administration's use of a Signal chat to discuss imminent military plans was "more than a mistake," but not enough to cost the jobs of the top U.S. officials involved.
"It needs to be dealt with very seriously," Flood told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker. "The White House together with all of these different agencies have to do everything in their power to make sure this never happens again and restore the confidence of anybody that is concerned about the use of the Signal app to do anything like that."
The Nebraska Republican added that despite the incident he remains confident in national security adviser Michael Walz and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Waltz created the Signal group chat where a journalist was inadvertently added and Hegseth outlined plans for a U.S. strike on Houthi militants in Yemen.
"I’ve worked with Michael Waltz," Flood said of the former Florida congressman. "I think the defense secretary is off to a good start. In fact, I think the entire Trump administration is off to a good start."
"Speaking very bluntly, everybody that I ran into in my district has concerns about the way that was done on Signal, and I think at the end of the day, I’m sure the president is addressing this," he added.
Vances head back to Washington after trip to Greenland
Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance have departed Greenland for Washington, spending just hours on the ground in a territory Trump has more aggressively pursued U.S. ownership of in recent months.
The Vances toured Pituffik Space Base, the Pentagon's northernmost installation which supports missile warning, missile defense and space surveillance operations for the U.S. and NATO.
Usha Vance was initially set to embark on a cultural tour of Greenland, including through a visit to a popular dogsled race and several cultural heritage sites. That itinerary was ultimately scaled back in part because of pushback from Danish and Greenlandic leaders.
Inside Trump’s shock decision to pull the plug on Elise Stefanik’s nomination
At a White House event honoring Women’s History Month Wednesday afternoon, President Donald Trump took six minutes out of his speech to personally recognize many of the Republican women who were gathered in the audience.
But one person in attendance that he did not mention was Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., who was, at the time, Trump’s nominee to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
The omission, which several GOP lawmakers took notice of at the time, was all the more conspicuous given that Stefanik’s name was included on the list of women in Trump’s prepared remarks, according to a White House official.
While it’s unclear whether Trump purposely chose to skip Stefanik’s name, less than 24 hours later, the president delivered another public blow to the congresswoman. He announced that he was withdrawing Stefanik’s nomination for the ambassadorship, citing concerns over Republicans’ razor-thin House majority and the prospect of a special election to fill her seat.
Trump pardoned six people yesterday
Trump pardoned six people yesterday, according to a White House official.
Among those receiving pardons included three co-founders of BitMEX crypto exchange, Arthur Hayes, Benjamin Delo, and Samuel Reed.
Trump also confirmed to reporters at the White House today that he pardoned former Nikola founder Trevor Milton who had been convicted on three counts tied to fraud after a jury said Milton had effectively made up the driving capability of its EV truck.
Asked why he had pardoned Milton, Trump said: “I don’t know him, they say it was very unfair, and they say the thing that he did wrong was he was one of the first people who supported a gentleman named Donald Trump for president."
The White House has declined to disclose the names of the two remaining people who Trump pardoned yesterday.